Hunters of the Truth
by Arrogant Kitsune
Summary: A Tough Punk is turned into an Amnesiac Pokémon and meets a kind Buizel who helps her adapt. However, soon rabblerousers begin causing trouble, trouble that could lead to the destruction of her world. Mystery Dungeon


The air around Lucille felt warm, soft breezes wafting around her as she floated in the middle of the dancing lights. Her eyes flicked this way and that as she tried to figure out what was going on. Of course she immediately realized it was a dream, but it felt strange, ethereal, and too real to be a normal dream.

She tried to move her position, to swim through the lights, but found it was impossible to move from her starting position. How strange, usually that only happened to her when something horrifying was about to happen. She didn't feel threatened at all though, if anything the lights surrounding her felt warm and comforting, as if their rainbow light was suffusing her very body and soul.

While it was extremely relaxing, just floating amidst the beautiful aurora, Lucy wanted something to happen. Dreams were usually more exciting than this, was it building up to something big?

She soon felt a slight breeze against her face, different than the others. It wasn't that the wind was blowing, it was that she was moving! Finally! Being dragged away from the aurora towards what at first appeared a bright yellow star, eventually growing and growing, her speed picking up and the wind blowing against her faster and faster, she was going too fast! She was going to hit the star!

As the star approached, revealing itself to not be a star but some solid yellowy material, she lifted her arms defensively, seeing amidst the speeding lights that her arms appeared to be covered in something, her nails unnaturally long. What a strange dream, she thought, right until she collided heavily with the yellow and the lights around her were replaced with darkness as she fell into complete unconsciousness, nary a thought to register that she was no longer laying on her comfortable SealyTM mattress, but upon a bed of soft sand underneath an unfamiliar sky.

"The Hell was that?" Lucy said, rubbing her head as she stood up. It took several seconds for the disoriented girl to realize she had not awakened in her own bedroom. She looked around at the high stone walls around her, feeling the sand beneath her. "The Hell is this?"

Of course, being quite intelligent, it didn't take long for Lucille to realize that it wasn't only her location that had changed.

"The fuck is that?" she exclaimed loudly, having already noticed the large, thick tail resting on the sand behind her, sand-coloured scales coating it, and presumably the rest of her body, although looking down she saw her belly had brilliant white scales. "What the Hell is going on?" she said, looking around in confusion, hoping that there would be someone around to help her figure out what was happening. This felt far too real to be a dream, and the pain she felt all over her body, likely from a high speed collision with sand, made her think her previous 'dream' wasn't so fake either. In fact, looking around herself at the rises and falls of the sand looked like something had landed heavily in the area recently. Judging by how alone she was, the only possible conclusion she could draw was that she had caused the circular indentation.

She looked around again. Above her was a blue sky, sun blazing merrily above, warming her comfortingly, which was odd. Usually she hated the hot sun but here it actually felt quite nice. Must be a result of this weird change, Lucille decided. The high stone walls rising on either side of her made it look like a corridor, save with a sandy floor and lacking a roof. Maybe I'm in some kinda labyrinth? Only one thing to do then!

She began walking. Why stay still when she could explore? Maybe she'd find someone who could explain what the Hell was going on!

She growled in irritation, following the natural hallways, occasionally coming across wider clearings and other paths, but nothing of note. How do I get out of here? Labyrinths only had one exit, but she didn't know what this place was. A labyrinth? A maze? A trap? A strange natural formation that really to her knowledge shouldn't exist but somehow did? She didn't know. All she knew was that the slight breeze blowing through the desert maze easily wiped away her footsteps, leaving her with no way of marking where she had and hadn't been.

As she paused in a corridor, wondering whether she should try out her new claws on the walls to see if she could mark them with them she felt a harsh strike from behind, causing her to stumble forwards, turning around with a snarl, swinging her arms out wide so she could show off how strong she was, as well as her new sharp claws. Even though she found her new body was a bit rounder and slower and less hot than she had used to be, the claws were a beloved addition, who the Hell would mess with her now?

Of course, seeing as somebody had just hit her? Some idiot wanted to mess with her and was going to learn why they should fear her! Although, as she saw her opponent, she lowered her guard briefly in surprise. It wasn't a human, in fact, it looked just like what she looked like right now. Round, scaled body with sharp claws and large, almost adorable eyes, it was the same as her.

"The fuck are you?" she spat, cracking her knuckles, glaring at her assailant. The other creature looked a bit surprised before shaking its head and charging her. She smirked, sidestepping his charge and dropping her elbow on the creature's back, causing it to ram into the ground. She stepped up onto his back. "Better talk before I use your back to file my nails."

"W-Wait!" a voice called out from behind her. She flexed her hands, wiggling her claws as she turned towards the newcomer, making sure to grind her heel into her victim's back so it'd know just who it was dealing with.

The newcomer looked much different than either her and the one beneath her, must be a different species of whatever I am and whatever populates this world. It seemed reasonable to Lucille, the only other reasonable option was that... she paused, trying to recall what another option would be. She knew she wasn't supposed to be a little scaly monster, she was a human. She knew her name was Lucille, but couldn't remember her last name. In fact, she really couldn't remember anything at all. What the Hell? This was the first time she had really thought about herself, and she was realizing she couldn't remember anything! Well shit. That didn't bode well. Maybe this new guy, who seemed a lot less aggressive than the guy whimpering and squirming beneath her heels, could help her figure out the Hell was happening.

"What do you want?" she asked, looking down on the guy as best she could with her smaller body, arms folded across her chest. He was a rather scrawny looking otter, with two long tails trailing out behind him. His fur was orange, a cream patch on his belly, with a collar of what looked like yellow rubber around his neck. Kinky little guy, isn't he? Lucille thought, eyes drifting to his face. He looked weak, small round glasses perched on his muzzle in front of his green eyes. While physically? The weasel looked absolutely pathetic, within his eyes burned a fiery passion that intrigued Lucille. Maybe she wouldn't have to pound this loser into the ground, maybe he had some spine, and maybe he was smart enough to actually help her.

His eyes met hers, staring defiantly against her furious glare. She noticed beneath his fluffy cheek fur blood was oozing from a recent slash wound, likely from the idiot she was standing on. A flash of anger ignited inside her; how dare this spineless wimp think he could get away with harming someone as noble as the orange-furred mustelid, regardless of how weak he looked? She surreptitiously ground her heel into his back, enjoying hearing his whimpering increase in volume.

"I…I want him," the dorky-looking guy pointed to the defeated monster beneath Lucille, clutching the messenger bag slung over his shoulder tightly.

"Why's that?" she asked, growing more and more curious.

"He's a criminal, wanted for assault and robbery I think," the bespectacled police constable, she assumed, scratched his head nervously, "Ah, since you caught him I guess you can take him in for his bounty then." Ah, bounty hunter, not police officer, how strange, she thought.

"I'll let you have him if you tell me one thing; what is he and what are you? What am I?"

The Buizel, he had told her that is what he was, had led her through the desert back out to freedom. He had bound the criminal Sandshrew, what she and the criminal were, with a magical slightly glowing rope that he had summoned from a golden badge he carried in his bag. He had escorted the two Sandshrews to a boat that was docked at the edge of the desert, looking out over a brilliant blue sea. More Pokémon, the Buizel had called the inhabitants of this place regardless of how they looked, were working on the boat, which Lucy was told was going to take the two of them to a town called Sommersby. A Pokémon called a Machoke took the criminal from them as they boarded the boat, the Buizel guiding Lucy down a level to a rather cozy looking cabin, sitting her on the bed while he sat on a chair.

"This is my room on this boat," he said, smiling sheepishly, "I don't really have much money so I can't afford to get a good ride or even a good cabin, but you're welcome to share it with me until we get to Sommersby."

"Thanks bud," Lucy said, relaxing on his bed, "Mighty kind of you."

"But, in exchange?" the Buizel raised a shaky finger, his body quivering nervously. "Y-You need to tell me some stuff about yourself."

"Yeah, sure," Lucy said, finding that kind of reasonable, not that she had much to tell, remembering very little about herself.

"Where are you from? If you don't even know what you are…" the otter trailed off as Lucy rose up, staring at him.

"Well, to tell you the truth? I'm a human but I can't remember anything before I woke up," she told him, watching his eyes grow wide. "I just had some kinda strange ass dream and woke up in that desert maze."

"D-Did you say you're human?" the Buizel's eyes were filled with wonder and excitement, rather than the derision and disbelief Lucille expected. She nodded. "Th-that…That's amazing! I'd read about a few instances of humans becoming Pokémon in the past and how they generally arrived shortly before massive disasters!"

"That isn't a good thing dude, disasters are kinda shit," she said, shaking her head. The Hell was wrong with this guy? He shook his head back at her.

"Yes, I-I know that! But we just had a m-m-major disaster a few years back! So, y-you may have arrived late, but y-you're here around the time of a disaster!" he clapped excitedly before visibly forcing himself to calm down, breathing deeply and once more adjusting his glasses. "S-S-Sorry, I was studying h-history before the Great Ruin." This sounded weird to Lucille, but it also made some level of sense. Heh, I figured him for a nerd, Lucy smiled. Of course, she was fairly certain she had never met a nerd with as much spunk as this guy but could not be certain, due to lacking her memories.

"Seems I ain't unique then, that's good. They all came with amnesia too?" she asked, to which he nodded. "So how'd they fix that then? Some Pokémon or summin' help 'em get them back?" Now the Buizel scratched the back of his head nervously.

"W-Well, the ah, books? I didn't have much time with them is all, so, I don't really remember too much," he looked down, as if he was scared of Lucy's reaction. "Our library got almost entirely destroyed during the Great Ruin, I saved a few books, but nothing helpful for you. S-Sorry." Lucy almost didn't know how to react to his words. She rose from the bed, her footclaws clacking against the wooden slats beneath them as she approached Milo.

"Hey, chin up Milo," she said, placing a finger beneath his chin and raising his face to hers for him. "You've done a bunch for me already. Least I have some info now, eh? So!" She sat back on the bed, grinning at the stunned weasel. "Got anythin' I can do for ye? I don't know how much I can do for ye because I'm kinda new to bein' a Pokémon and all, but I guess I might be here a while so, if you don't mind, I'd kinda like to stay with you." Which was something she felt was a thing she'd never say, asking to stay with someone who was almost completely a stranger, but Milo seemed really sweet, kind of adorable, and a bit pathetic. He couldn't be all that pathetic though, the criminal Sandshrew had given him a pretty rough beating and he was doing pretty well. Maybe he was a lot tougher than he looked?

"U-Um, well, th-there is one thing you could do?" Milo fidgeted nervously, one paw rubbing at his rubbery collar. "I want t-to join the Guild, but I'm not good enough alone. Would you mind joining it w-with me?"

"Well you might wanna tell me what this Guild is, eh? Told you, not from around here," she waved a hand to indicate the world. "And what about that Great Ruin?" His eyes widened as she mentioned the Great Ruin.

"Well, the Great Ruin pre-pre-pretty much d-destroyed everything. M-Mountains crumbled and, and, and forests g-grew from nowhere. Seas drained, oceans appeared, towns were lost. It happened a few years ago," Milo seemed a bit shaken even just talking about the experience, his paws rubbing against each other almost uncontrollable and he himself was occasionally quivering, stammering worse than usual. "The G-G-Guilds were sm-smaller before it h-happened, b-but after it ha-happened? The Guildma-ma-master? He organized the f-f-f-fixing of our town and exploring the new world. O-Of course the members still hunt t-t-treasure, and some other s-stuff, but the main goal is finding out what happened to the, the, the," he shook his head, having stammered himself briefly verbally unable to continue. He took a deep breath before continuing, "Finding out what happened to the other towns." He said each word with decisiveness, making sure he finished it without another stutter. He seemed concurrently proud to have finished and ashamed he had so much trouble talking about it.

"Seems like you've had a shitty time mate," Lucille said bluntly, rising up and grabbing his paws. "But don't worry, I'll help you join this Guild and we'll go out adventure and explore and shit. Treasure huntin' sounds like a fun way to pass the time 'til I get my memory back, eh?" She pulled him out of the chair and onto the bed beside her, holding him tight to her side. He clutched onto her with an almost desperate need, resting against her. His frenzied, stressed panting soon slowed, the gentle rocking of the boat and safe haven offered by Lucille's arms soon drew him to a drowsy state, his pants turning to quiet breathing as he drifted off to sleep.

He felt so small and fragile in her strong arm, delicate even. She could feel his ribs beneath his silky fur, which was incredibly soft to her touch. It surprised her how easily she could still feel things despite being coated in hard scales. It was strange that she could feel him so perfectly, feel his awesome softness, and yet barely feel hurt by the Sandshrew striking her earlier. I guess there is a lot about this body I don't know, she thought. I'll have to test it out later.

But she wasn't going to waste time worrying about that now, for now she was just going to enjoy the short rest before arriving in Milo's hometown, where she resolved to find out more about this world and the Guild. Maybe someone in the Guild had more information on the Great Ruin and about other humans that had come before her. She knew that, despite how physically weak and mentally weak the Buizel seemed that within him burned the fiery spirit of a warrior. He wouldn't give up on helping her, or on his mission, without one Hell of a fight, and she was curious to see just how far he could go with her. Being here might not be so bad, she thought, feeling mildly queasy from the rocking sensation of the boat, Hell, it might even be fun.


End file.
